THE BEAUTIFUL MIND GAME

Football is a common denominator that acts like a language connecting millions of people across the world. It creates interest and sparks emotions in a way that regular conversations usually fail to do.

THE BEAUTIFUL MIND GAME takes metaphors and tactics from the pitch and applies them to work and home life in a powerful coaching experience.

The book accurately describes the life of football.

Nigel Howe

Chief Executive, Reading Football Club

Describes the influences of the game from a fan’s perspective. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

Gary Mabutt MBE

Former Captain, Tottenham Hotspur

Yes mate, I like it.

Jack Wilshere

Footballer for Arsenal, 2008-2018

(Risk) Aversion Therapy

You swapped supplier negotiations, cash-flow headaches and being squeezed by larger organisations for a salary, pension, and the chance to help people directly. Not a bad trade.”
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The Language of Football| Blog 2012

This is a partially edited compendium of the blogs I wrote during the 2012 Euro Championship. Euro 2012 Coming Soon Continuing the theme of blogging during big international football competitions, Euro 2012 is days away. The build-up (sounds like scum around a bath...
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The Foundations of Football Identity lie Deeper than Those Of The Stadia

The current name change argument at Hull City is more than just a name. But why such a big deal? Fewer than four years ago Assem Allam a Hull resident and Higher Education educated business tycoon bought the controlling stake in Hull City football club. Since...
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Back in the Saddle again

Having taken a half season plus break from the world of blog I find myself lurching back to my old berth on the nag. And what’s brought me back? Racism. I had always planned to return, but with a new range of subjects I have been working on that are still in...
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Walk This Way. Life lessons from Walking Football

  Arriving at Barnet’s Hive to play Walking Football (WF), I felt that same trepidation and excitement as when I first played. I hadn’t kicked a ball in eight years and I later learned that others hadn’t done so in decades. As I looked around at this sample of...
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From Hare to Tortoise Eternity

Three months ago I made my debut as a walking footballer. Gis and I (we are both 58, he needs reminding, I never do), arrived at The Hive  at 6.55 pm on a typically cold February evening and along with a ‘real football’ coach and four or so other people we warmed up...
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The positive powers of football vs. the darker side within

Football can help disadvantaged young people in the UK (and beyond) but it can also prove to be a let-down to those it tantalises.   Today’s timely press release from The Prince’s Trust spread the word about how so many young people are feeling depressed, without...
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Window Shut, Bullying Over 2nd Sep 2013

It seems that the football transfer window, which shut twenty three hours ago is just an excuse for the bullies to flex their muscle. It’s a time when terms like ’Selling Club’ are applied to perceived weaklings and ‘Buying Club’ applied to the bullies ‘I like your...
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YOU MAKE AN OLD MAN VERY HAPPY

This is code for saying that I kicked opponents and demonstrated toughness and gamesmanship. My colleagues liked it and to be honest, I enjoyed their plaudits.

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A pre-echo. The sun sets, the game rises

Tonight it all begins. But before carnival joy morphs into the nervous need to win let's look at some salient thoughts from a couple of years ago. http://www.football-italia.net/20264/english-job I am, like many of our regular readers on this website, an Italian who...
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(Risk) Aversion Therapy

You swapped supplier negotiations, cash-flow headaches and being squeezed by larger organisations for a salary, pension, and the chance to help people directly. Not a bad trade.”

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Time, Oh How It Flies

From baby seats to broken minds - what a grandfather’s view reveals about the ever-changing world When, some 18 months ago, I became a grandfather, nothing immediately changed that much. Other than the thrill of new life and the relief that all the parties involved...
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All The Young Dudes Carry The Muse

this current 4-month gap (that is happily now over) has not been the first time I’ve had a break from casting words into the ether, and the only reason I’ve maintained a respectable total is that there have been several periods in which I’ve written one or more blogs per week. 

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WFH, xG and introducing xEMx ©

despite having doubts about these metrics, I’m unashamedly jumping on the bandwagon and taking this opportunity to introduce my own workplace metric, Expected Emotional Exchange© or xEMx ©

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Public Service & The Downward Domino Effect

I prove the point by listing my current ailments, such as backache, creaking knees, and fears of a feeble memory.

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Children of the Evolution

it was an opportunity to do Christmas shopping, take in some frightful West End musicals, and commit acts of heavy-duty socialising that would be filed under the predictable heading; ‘what happens in London, stays in London.

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White Coat Syndrome (turn to God)

Before I read this official version I thought this syndrome was purely psychological. You know the scene, where the doctor lowers their half-moon reading specs further down their nose, looks you in the eye and gives the verdict. Heart-in-mouth, butterflies in the stomach and all that.

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Turn To The Write

I work for a government department in what we can broadly call recruitment and one of my key tasks is to help people find paid employment.  When I first meet a client I try in the first instance, to ascertain what they’d like to do and then what they can do. Last...
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Fresh Faced Imbeciles Laughing at Me

I guffawed so loudly that he paused, looked towards me and acknowledged my laugh with ‘You see”! I was so proud to have been noticed and included in his banter.

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The Cape of High Sensitivity

job is helping people find new careers and supporting them prepare for a new work role. It’s about managing change and shifting self-perception e.g. today I was persuading a former highly-paid investment banker that their present situation means they need to start again, perhaps as a bookkeeper or an administrator.

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